Attic Nights, Vol. II

I thought it not irrelevant to note that M. Cato spoke differently. For in the fourth book of his Origines Origins these are the words: "Our commander, if anyone fights outside the line of battle, he imposes a multa fine upon him." It may appear that he changed the word out of deliberate elegance, since the fine was imposed in the camp and within the army, not in the comitium place of assembly, nor was it spoken before the people.

II

A "refined" elegans refined/elegant person was not spoken of with praise, but that word in the time of M. Cato generally indicated a vice, not a virtue. For it is possible to observe this in certain other places, as well as in the book of Cato titled Carmen de moribus Song on Manners. From that book are these words: "They considered that avarice held all vices: the spendthrift, the greedy, the refined, the vicious, the idle/ineffectual? who were considered as such, he was praised." From these words it is apparent that 'refined' was spoken in antiquity not for elegance of wit, but of one who was too focused on refined and pleasant dress and living.

Afterward, 'refined' indeed ceased to be a reproach, but it was deemed worthy of no praise unless the refinement was most moderate. Thus M. Tullius Cicero attributed to L. Crassus and Q. Scaevola not pure refinement, but that which was mixed with much frugality: "Crassus," he said, "was the most frugal of the refined, Scaevola the most refined of the frugal."